The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 563 (Color Image)

0563	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1

CHAP. LIV. THE TARTAR CUSTOMS OF WAR

261

the least ; and they are the best of all for making wide

conquests of country. And this you will perceive from

what you have heard and shall hear in this book ; and

(as a fact) there can be no manner of doubt that now

they are the masters of the biggest half of the world.

Their troops are admirably ordered in the manner that I

shall now relate.

You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he

takes with him, say, i oo,000 horse. Wel], he appoints

an officer to every ten men, one to every hundred, one

to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, so

that his own orders have to be given to ten persons only,

and each of these ten persons has to pass the orders only

to other ten, and so on ; no one having to give orders to

more than ten. And every one in turn is responsible

only to the officer immediately over him ; and the

discipline and order that comes of this method is mar-

vellous, for they are a people very obedient to their

chiefs. Further, they call the corps of 1oo,000 men a

Tue ; that of i o,000 they call a Tolnan ; the thousand

they call . . . . ; the hundred Guz ; the ten . . . .2 And

when the army is on the march they have always 200

horsemen, very well mounted, who are sent a distance

of two marches in advance to reconnoitre, and these

always keep ahead. They have a similar party de-

tached in the rear, and on either flank, so that there is a

good look-out kept on all sides against a surprise. When

they are going on a distant expedition they take no gear

with them except two leather bottles for milk ; a little

earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little

tent to shelter them from rain.3 And in case of great

urgency they will ride ten days on end without lighting

a fire or taking a meal. On such an occasion they will

sustain themselves on the blood of their horses, opening

a vein and letting the blood jet into their mouths,

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